I tried to read this years ago, perhaps when I was still in high school. I remember getting through about a chapter and then putting it away because it was so incredibly boring. This winter I decided to try again, because I always felt guilty about not reading it since it is one of THE CLASSIC AMERICAN NOVELS.
The result? I really enjoyed it. Lots of exciting scenes, short chapters, hints of modern novel writing (like chapters written as soliloquies or mini-plays that did not involve the narrator), and many lines that begged to be memorized and quoted at appropriate times (don't worry, I didn't). There were times when I was almost late for work because I wanted to finish a chapter. The things that seem horribly boring in high school (an entire chapter, "Less Erroneous Pictures of Whales," devoted to which ancient scientists/artists/philosophers got things right) seem entirely readable now. And everyone on the ship is really crazy, not just Ahab, because when you hunt a whale it is you, in a rowboat, with a sharp stick, trying to kill something that is 100 feet long and weighs 50 tons. It's ridiculous.
I highly recommend it.
Amy
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